Production of candles



' and about 250 atmospheres.

Patented Mar. 13, 1934 PATENT OFFCE PRODUCTION Wilhelm Pungs, Cologn storfer, Mannheim, Ger Farbenindustrie Aktien on-the-Main, Germany N0 Drawing. Application In Germany 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to the production of candles.

We have found that valuable candles can be prepared by casting or drawing candles'in the usual manner with non-fibrous organic combustible substances, usually employed as the combustible materials for the production of candles and which are usually of fatty nature, mixed with between 1.5 and 20 per cent', preferably from 2 to 18 per cent, of their weight of solid aliphatic alcohols; i. e. alcohols having a melting point above 45 C. Solid (preferably saturated) aliphatic alcohols, or mixtures thereof, may be recovered in any usual and convenient manner by the saponification of waxes of natural origin in which they are usually present in the form of esters, as for example bees wax, sperm oil, spermaceti, carnauba, shellac or Montan waxes. They may also be prepared by reducing the fatty acid substances, that is acids and esters, or mixtures thereof, contained in waxes of natural, 1. e. vegetable, animal or mineral origin and in fats and oils of vegetal, 1. el animal or vegetable origin, such as cotton seed oil, linseed oil, castor oil, rapeseed oil, olive oil, peanut oil, stearine, whale, seal or fish oils and the like, or their synthetic substitutes obtainable by destructively oxidizing parafiin wax in the liquid phase with the aid of air, or by reducing derivatives of such acids, such as esters with monoor polyhydric aliphatic alcohols or anhydrides, for example in the presence of cobalt or nickel with the aid of hydrogen or gases containing the same, and at a temperature between about 180 and 250 C. while maintaining a pressure between about 180 The alcohols obtained by reducing mixtures of acids of high molecular weight containing mainly from about 27 to about 29 carbon atoms, obtainable by the treatment of Montax wax with chromic acid for example according to applicants specification No. 1,777,766 have also proved very suitable. Similarly, the solid alcohols obtainable according to the applications Ser. Nos. 486,280 and 486,281, filed October 3rd, 1930, may be employed. As specific single examples of alcohols of the said kind may be mentioned tetradecyl alcohol, hexadecyl alcohol (cetyl alcohol),octodecyl alcohol, docosanol, octodecandiol, ceryl alcohol and myricyl alcohol. The solid, aliphatic alcohols should, generally, contain at least 14 carbon atoms, preferably at least 16 carbon atoms, alcohols having a melting point above 48 C. being preferably employed.

As the non-fibrous combustible substances may talline, hard paraffin wax (melting point 535 C whereas candles prepared OF CANDLES e, and Michael Jahrmany, assignors to I. G. gesellschaft, Frankfort- May 2, 1932, Serial No.

August 30, 1930 be mentioned for example paraffin wax, bees V wax, tallow, spermaceti, stearine, stearic acid or synthetic fatty acids of high molecular weight, for example from the destructive oxidation of paraffin wax, middle oils and like hydrocarbon ii) mixtures, with the aid of air, the proportions within the aforesaid limits being selected according to the purpose in view, the hardness of the candles usually rising with the content of alcohols. The preparation of the candles from the said alcohols and usual candle making material is effected in any known and suitable manner usual for the production of candles.

The addition'of the said amount of solid aliphatic alcohols is specially advantageous in the Y0 case of employing crystalline paraffin wax which may not, generally, be employed for the manufacture of candles since the resulting candles are brittle and liable to breakage, numerous cracks being formed after their production, Besides 75 this, parafiin wax yields transparent candles which have a low commercial value. By the said comparatively small addition of solid aliphatic alcohols entirely homogeneous candles can be-obtained from paraffin wax of any origin, 30 which candles have a smooth opaque appearance and a milkywhite color and which, moreover, are entirely ree from cracks and not liable to breakage. Fur alcohols are extremely readily absorbed even by thin 35 wicks, candles of the said kind burn very quietly and with a strongly luminous non-smoky flame; they do not drip nor do they form deep cups.

The following examples will further illustrate the nature of this invention but the invention is not restricted to these examples. The parts are by weight.

Example 1 A fused mixture of 97 parts of coarsely crysand 3 parts of octodecyl alcohol is cast into candies. The candles obtained are entirely homogeneous, have a smooth opaque appearance and a milky white color and are free from cracks, 100

from the said paraffin wax alone are transparent and show numerous cracks.

The good quality of the candles obtained from the said mixture of paraffin wax and octodecyl 5 alcohol can be shown by the following test. Candies having a length of 23 centimeters and a diameter of 20 millimeters at one end and of 23 millimeters at the other end, are suspended horizontally in clips covering 3 centimeters of the 10 aforesaid mix- Equally good results may be obtained by casting candles from a mixture in which the 3 parts of octodecyl alcohol are replaced by 5 parts of cetyl alcohol.

Example 2 Candles with a cotton wick are cast in the usual manner from a fused mixture of finely crystalline, (melting point 52.1 C.) and solid aliphatic alcohols. Candles, having the same dimensions as those described in Example 1 are submitted to the deflection test described in millimeters.

What we claim is:- 1. As a new article of the non-fibrous combustible constituents of manufacture, a candle which comprise between 1.5 and 20 per cent, by weight, of normally solid aliphatic alcohols.

. 2. a new article of manufacture, a candle the non-fibrous combustible constituents of which comprise between 1.5'and 20 per cent, by weight, of'a normally solid aliphatic alcohol having a melting point above about 45 C.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a candle the non-fibrous combustible constituents of which comprise between 1.5 and 20 'per cent, by weight, of normally solid aliphatic alcohols obtainable by reducing the acids of waxes, oils and fats 01' natural origin. I

4. As a new article of manufacture, a candle the non-fibrous combustible constituents of which comprise paraflin wax and between 1.5 and 20 per cent, by weight, of a normally solid aliphatic alcohol having a melting point above about 45 C.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a candle the non-fibrous combustible constituents of which comprise from 2 to 18 per cent, by weight, of octodecyl alcohol.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a candle the non-fibrous combustible constituents of which comprise from 2 to 18 per cent, by weight, of 100 cetyl alcohol.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a candle the non-fibrous combustible constituents of which wax and from 2 to 18 per cent, by weight, of octodecyl alcohol.

8. As a new article of manufacture, a candle the non-fibrous combustible constituents of which comprise paramn wax and from 2 to 18 per cent, by weight, of cetyl alcohol.

WILHELM PUNGS. MICHAEL JAHRSTORFER. 

